Compact disk selecting mechanism including mechanical and optical detection

ABSTRACT

A disk selecting mechanism is disclosed, in which a slide plate is moved forward and backward by driving a slide link by means of a driving gear and a disk conveying portion is moved according thereto in the up and downward direction by a stepwise cam portion disposed on the slide link so as to set it at an arbitrary position in the up and downward direction, in order to select an arbitrary disk from a magazine.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a compact disk (hereinbelow abbreviatedto CD) selecting mechanism applied to a CD player for car use, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Since CD players for car use have been developed because CDs are widelyutilized, it becomes possible to enjoy music of high quality duringdriving. For such a CD player for car use, in order to alleviate theinattention given to the driving operation by exchanging CDs often,there is a tendency of adopting a so-called autochanger system, which isconstructed such that a desired piece of music can be easily selected bysetting a plurality of CDs together in a magazine and loading thismagazine into a player. FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C show the construction of amagazine 2 used in such an autochanger system. In the inner space of abox-shaped magazine, 2 there are disposed a plurality of e.g. 5 spacerswith a certain interval. Owing to these spacers a plurality of CDs, inthis case 6 CDs can be accommodated. The spacers 8 are made of amaterial having a soft surface selected so as not to damage the CDs.

In the case where the player is loaded with a magazine, in which aplurality of CDs are set as described above, a CD selecting mechanism isrequired which selects an arbitrary CD, taken it out from the magazineand moves it to a play position.

Heretofore such a selecting mechanism is constructed by a lead screwsystem utilizing a lead screw.

However the prior art CD selecting mechanism using the lead screw systemhas several problems as described below.

1. The precision of the selected position is low, in the case where a CDis selected from the magazine.

2. The selecting operation is slow, because the lead screw is used.

3. The mounting efficiency is low, because a high precision is requiredfor positioning parts, when they are mounted in the player.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been done in order to deal with the problemsas described above and the object thereof is to provide a CD selectingmechanism capable of solving these problems of the prior art technique.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention of the presentapplication is characterized in that it comprises a driving gear, whichcan be rotated both in the forward and in the backward direction; aslide link, with which a slide gear engaged with the driving gear isdisposed together in one body; a slide plate having a stepwise camportion, which is moved by the slide link; and a disk conveying portionengaged with the stepwise cam portion of the slide plate, which can bemoved up and downward.

A second invention of the present application is characterized in thatit comprises a driving gear, which can be rotated both in the forwardand in the backward direction; a slide link, with which a slide gearengaged with the driving gear is disposed together in one body, and inwhich there are disposed a plurality of position detecting holes and agroove cam along the slide gear; a switch operated by the groove camstated above; a slide plate having a stepwise cam portion, which ismoved by the slide link; and a disk conveying portion engaged with thestepwise cam portion of the slide plate, which can be moved up anddownward.

The slide plate effects forward and backward movement on a straight lineby driving the slide link by means of the driving gear. Since the diskconveying portion effects the up and downward movement owing to thestepwise cam portion, depending on this forward and backward movement,it is possible to position the disk conveying portion at an arbitraryposition in the upward and downward direction. In this way it ispossible to select an arbitrary CD from the magazine.

Further the position of the disk conveying portion in the upward anddownward direction is detected by the position detecting holes andfurthermore it is possible to detect the position of the disk conveyingportion in the upward and downward direction by means of the switch witha high precision.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A(a), and 1A(b), 1A(c) to FIGS. 1D(a) and 1D(b), 1D(c) are planviews and side views, respectively, showing an embodiment of the CDselecting mechanism according to the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B to 2C are a top view and side views, respectively,showing a CD conveying mechanism incorporated in a CD player for caruse;

FIGS. 3A to 3C are top views of a CD conveying speed switching mechanismincorporated in the CD player for car use;

FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C are a top view and side views, respectively, showinga CD conveyance termination detecting mechanism incorporated in the CDplayer for car use;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C and 5D are a top view, a front view and a side view,respectively, showing a CD chucking mechanism incorporated in the CDplayer for car use;

FIGS. 6A to 6C and FIGS. 7A to 7C are top views showing an automaticmagazine ejecting mechanism and a manual magazine ejecting mechanism,respectively, incorporated in the CD player for car use;

FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C are a top view, a side view and a back view,respectively, showing a magazine incorporated in the CD player for caruse; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a CD selecting mechanism, which is anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinbelow an embodiment of the present invention will be explained,referring to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A(a), 1A(b) and 1A(c) to FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C show theconstruction of a CD player for car use, to which the present inventionis applied. Hereinbelow the whole construction will be explained forevery principal mechanism.

(1) CD Selecting Mechanism

FIGS. 1A(a) to 1A(c) to FIGS. 1D(a) to 1D(c) show a CD selectingmechanism, in which reference numeral 1 is a motor, which can be rotatedboth in the forward and in the backward direction, and whose rotatingforce is transmitted to a slide gear 7 mounted on a slide link 5 in onebody therewith through a gear A 3a and a gear B 3b. The slide link 5 canbe rotated both in the clockwise direction X and in the counterclockwisedirection Y around a fixed axle 6. A plurality of position detectingholes 9 and a cam groove 11 are formed along the periphery of the slidegear 7. Presuming that e.g. 6 CDs are set in a magazine, there aredisposed 8 position detecting holes 9 in total, i.e. 6 holes 9₁ to 9₆corresponding to the CD positions, a hole 9_(P) corresponding to thePLAY position and a hole 9_(E) corresponding to the EJECT position.

13 is a switch plate, which is engaged with the cam groove 11 through anaxle 14 and the extremity portion 13A of which is brought into contactwith a thrusting piece 15A of a switch 15. Thus switch 15 detects eitherone of the position detecting holes 9 described above, which isspecified, depending on the thrusting state of the thrusting piece 15A.Further there is disposed a photointerrupter 17 detecting the positiondetecting holes 9 formed in the slide gear 7 on the upper and the lowerside. In this way a specified one of the position detecting holes 9 isdetected by these elements, the switch 15 and the photointerrupter 17.

The two extremity portions 5A and 5B of the slide link 5 are engagedwith the extremity portions 19A and 20A of a first slide plate 19 and asecond slide plate 20, respectively. On the first slide plate 19 thereare disposed stepwise cams 21A and 21B and on the other hand there isdisposed a stepwise cam 22. For the first slide plate 19 the lower sidethereof in the figure is the upper side in reality and to the contrary,for the second slide plate 20, the upper side thereof in the figureindicates the upper side in reality. 23 is an upper plate and 24 is alower plate. These are constructed so as to be one body, whichconstitutes a CD conveying mechanism. The upper plate 23 is engaged withthe stepwise cams 21A and 21B through axles 23A and 23B and on the otherhand the lower plate 24 is engaged with the stepwise cam 22 through anaxle 24A.

Owing to such a construction, when the slide link 5 is rotated in theclockwise direction X, the first slide plate 19 is moved horizontally tothe right in the figure and on the contrary the second slide plate 20 ismoved horizontally to the left in the figure. As described above, whenthe slide link 5 is rotated, the upper plate 23 is lowered through theaxles 23A and 23B by the action of the stepwise cams 21A and 21B on thefirst slide plate 19 and the lower plate 24 is lowered also through theaxle 24A by the action of the stepwise cam 22 on the second slide plate20. On the other hand, when the slide link 5 is rotated in thecounterclockwise direction Y, the first slide plate 19 is movedhorizontally to the left and at the same time the second slide plate 20is moved horizontally to the right. Consequently, when the slide link 5is rotated in this direction, contrarily to the case describedpreviously, the upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 are raised. Inthis way it is possible to move intermittently the CD conveyingmechanism consisting of the upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 in theupward and downward direction owing to the action of the stepwise cams21A, 21B and 22 by rotating the slide link 5 in the clockwise directionX or in the counterclockwise direction Y by rotating the motor 1 forwardor backward.

When the slide link 5 is rotated in the counter clockwise direction Y sothat the upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 are raised to the highestposition, as indicated in FIG. 1A, the position detecting hole 9₆ isdetected by the photointerrupter 17. Further, by the fact that theswitch 15 detects the thrusting state of the thrusting piece 15A by theextremity portion 13A of the switch plate 13, it is detected that themechanism is at the position of the sixth CD.

When the upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 are at the positioncorresponding to the position detecting hole 9₁, as indicated in FIG.1B, it is detected that the mechanism is at the position of the firstCD.

When the upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 are at the positioncorresponding to the position detecting hole 9_(P), as indicated in FIG.1C, it is detected that the mechanism is at the PLAY position.

When the upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 are at the positioncorresponding to the position detecting hole 9_(E), as indicated in FIG.1D, it is detected that the mechanism is at the EJECT position.

The upper plate 23 and the lower plate 24 can be smoothly moved, whenthey are intermittently moved, by utilizing cycloid curves for the shapeof the stepwise cams 21A, 21B and 22 described above.

(2) CD Conveying Mechanism

FIGS. 2A to 2F show a CD conveying mechanism, in which 26 indicates amotor, which can be rotated both forward and backward and the rotatingforce of which is transmitted to an idler arm 27, an idler gear 28 and agear D 29d. A roller 30 disposed on the gear D 29d is rotated byrotating it, and a disk load plate 32 engaged with this roller 30 ismoved intermittently in the horizontal direction. At the extremity ofthe disk load plate 32 there is disposed a disk load lever 33, which ismoved, as the disk load plate 32 is moved horizontally to the right inthe figure, so that a disk lever 4 disposed in the magazine 2 is rotatedfrom the position indicated by a full line to that indicated by a brokenline. In this way a disk (CD) 25 set within the magazine 2 is ejectedfrom the position indicated by a full line to that indicated by a brokenline.

On the other hand, the rotating force of the motor 26 is transmitted toa gear G 29g through a gear A 29a, a gear B 29b, a gear C 29c, a gear E29e and a gear F 29f. A disk roller A 34a is disposed on the gear G 29g.In this way the disk roller A 34a is rotated so as to stick the disk 25indicated by the broken line together with a disk roller B 34b, which ismoved by the disk roller A 34a by friction. The disk 25 is conveyed tothe left in the figure by these two rollers A 34a and B 34b. Since thedisk roller A 34a and the disk roller B 34b are rotated backward byrotating the motor 26 backward, the disk 25 is moved in the backwarddirection and set again in the magazine 2. 37 is a spring plate, whichis used for holding the gear D 29d acting as an intermittent gear at aconstant position. By the fact that a pin mounted on this spring plateis engaged with a cam disposed on a disk load plate 32, an energizingforce is given thereto, only when the disk load plate 32 is at apredetermined position. If the energizing force were given always to thedisk load plate 32, the disk loading operation would proceed from thebeginning of the disk loading to the middle thereof in the figure, butinconveniences would be produced thereafter, because the energizingforce would be applied also to the transmitting gears themselves. Theparts described above are used in order to prevent this inconvenience.38 (FIG. 2B) represents a stopper.

FIG. 2B shows the state at the beginning of the disk loading; FIG. 2Cthe state at the middle of the disk loading; FIG. 2D the state at thetermination of the disk loading; FIG. 2E the state at the beginning ofthe disk unloading; and FIG. 2F the state at the termination of the diskunloading.

(3) CD Conveying Speed Switching Mechanism

FIGS. 3A to 3C show a CD conveying speed switching mechanism, in which 2is the magazine, in which the disk 25 is set; 34a is the disk roller;and 24 is the lower plate. 40 is a switch arm, which is rotated by thedisk 25 conveyed by the two disk rollers A 34a and B 34b and which has apiston 40a. A switch A 41a and a switch B 41b are disposed on the lowerplate 24. They are so constructed that when they are manipulated by theswitch arm described above, the voltage applied to the motor driving thedisk roller A 34a is lowered so that the disk conveying speed ischanged.

When the disk 25 set in the magazine 2 as indicated in FIG. 3A isconveyed to the position A by the disk roller A 34a, as indicated inFIG. 3B, the switch arm 40 is rotated by pushing the pin 40a on theswitch arm 40 to turn off the switch A 41a. By the fact that the voltageapplied to the motor 26 is lowered in this way, the conveying speed ofthe disk roller A 34a is lowered. Subsequently, when the disk isconveyed to the position B, as indicated in FIG. 3C, the switch arm 40is further rotated to turn on the switch B 41b. In this way theoperation of the motor 26 is stopped and the conveyance of the disk 25is terminated. 42 is a spring always energizing the switch arm 40, whichpushes the switch A 41a to turn it on, in the state where the disk 25 isnot in contact with the switch arm 40.

(4) CD Conveyance Termination Detecting Mechanism

FIGS. 4A to 4C show a CD conveyance termination detecting mechanism, inwhich 24 is the lower plate; 44 is a protrusion disposed on a bottomplate 43; and 40b is a hole formed on the switch arm 40. When it isdetected by the switch B 41b described previously, that the disk 25 hasbeen conveyed to the predetermined position, the CD conveying mechanismincluding the lower plate 24 is lowered to the PLAY position by the CDselecting mechanism described previously and at the same time theprotrusion 44 stated above is engaged with the hole 40b. Since theswitch arm 40 is separated from the disk 25, the playback of the disk 25is possible. FIG. 4C shows this state. The protrusion 44 works so as torotate the switch arm 40 by using a taper 44a in the release direction.In this way it is detected that the disk load plate 32 is at thepredetermined position.

(5) CD Chucking Mechanism

FIGS. 5A to 5D show a CD chucking mechanism, in which 46 is a spring A,which energizes a clamp arm 47 in one direction (downward) by anextremity thereof 46b by the fact that the other extremity thereof 46 isbrought into contact with the upper plate 23. Further a spring 48 isdisposed on the side surface of the bottom plate 43. When the disk islowered to the PLAY position through the CD conveying mechanism by theCD selecting mechanism described previously, this spring 48 is broughtinto contact with the clamp arm 47. It is so constructed that it rotatesthe clamp arm 47 by the spring force thereof and clamps the disk, whichhas been landed on a turntable 49, through a disk clamp 50. The diskclamp 50 is held by a clamp holder 51 and the turntable 49 is driven bya motor 52. FIG. 5B shows the state before the disk 25 is clamped andFIG. 5C the state after the disk 25 has been clamped.

(6) CD Magazine Ejecting Mechanism

FIGS. 6A to 6C show an automatic ejecting mechanism and FIGS. 7A to 7C amanual ejecting mechanism. The magazine 2 is inserted as indicated inFIGS. 6A and 7A. 54 is a magazine plate, which is brought into contactwith the magazine 2 to guide it. 55 is an eject plate disposed on therear surface of a magazine plate 54, with which a stopping portion 55ais engaged, when the magazine is inserted. This eject plate is alwaysenergized downward by a spring and pushed up by the inserted magazine.58 is a lock plate, which is engaged with the eject plate 55 and can bemoved in the left and right direction. This lock plate 58 has a roller58a. This roller 58a protrudes through a guiding hole 54a formed in themagazine plate 54 and can be locked by a locking groove 59 disposed onthe rear surface of the magazine 2. This roller 58a is moved in the leftand right direction by the edge portion of the slide link 5. 60 is adamper gear, which is engaged with the gear portion of the eject plate55, acting so as to smoothen the movement of the eject plate 55. 61 isan eject lever used for manual ejection.

The roller 58a of the lock plate 58 is inserted in the lock groove 59 inthe magazine 2 by pushing upward the magazine 2 on the magazine plate 54to insert it, when the slide link 5 is at a rotational position otherthan the EJECT position, as indicated in FIG. 6A, and it is lockedthere, as indicated in FIG. 6B. Subsequently, when the slide link 5 isat the rotational position, which is the EJECT position, the engagementof the roller 58a with the lock groove 59 is released, as indicated inFIG. 6C, and the magazine 2 is automatically ejected by being energizeddownward by the stopping portion 55a of the eject plate 55.

In the case of the manual operation, the engagement of the roller 58awith the lock groove 59 is released, because the end portion 58b of thelock plate 58 is pushed to the right by the protruding portion 61a ofthe eject lever 61, as indicated in FIG. 7B, and in this way themagazine 2 is ejected, as indicated in FIG. 7C. In this case of themanual operation the magazine 2 can be ejected freely at any position.

Next, the operation of the CD selecting mechanism in the embodiment ofthe present invention will be explained, referring to FIG. 1A(a) to1A(c) to FIGS. 1D(a) to 1D(c). The slide link 5 is rotated in theclockwise direction X or in the counterclockwise direction Y bytransmitting the rotation of the motor 1 to the slide gear 7 and thefirst slide plate 19 and the second plate 20 are moved in the horizontaldirections different from each other. In this way the CD conveyingmechanism consisting of the upper plate 23 and, the lower plate 24 ismoved intermittently in the upward and downward direction by thestepwise cams 21A, 21B and 22 disposed on the first and the second slideplate 19 and 20, respectively.

The position detection by the CD conveying mechanism is effected bydetecting the plurality of position detecting holes 9 formed in theslide gear 5 by means of the photointerrupter 17. It is effected furtherby detecting the thrusting state of the switch 15 by the cam groove 11in the slide link 5. In this way the detection is always precise byeffecting the position detection by means of both the detecting means.For example, only by the detecting means using the position detectingholes 9, when the operation is stopped in the midway by theswitching-off of the power supply, etc., it can be impossible to knowwhere the position detecting holes are. In this case the preciseposition can be detected by setting the initial position by using theswitch 15.

Further, since the CD conveying mechanism can be smoothly intermittentlymoved by using cycloid curves for the shape of the stepwise camsdisposed on the first and the second slide plate 19 and 20, it ispossible to reduce vibration and noise.

As described above, by the embodiment of the present invention, sincethe effects described below can be obtained, it is possible to removethe drawbacks of the prior art technique.

1. Since a CD is selected from the magazine by intermittently moving theconveying mechanism, using the stepwise cams, the precision of theselected position is improved.

2. Since the selecting operation is effected by combining the cams andthe gears, the operation speed is high.

3. Since no high precision is required for the positioning of parts,mounting efficiency is raised.

4. Since the position detection is effected by using a small number ofdetecting elements, it is possible to try to reduce the cost.

Although in the embodiment in the text explanation has been made byusing two kinds of slide plates, the present invention is not limitedthereto.

FIG. 9 shows another construction of the CD selecting mechanism, inwhich the same reference numerals represent the items identical orcorresponding to those indicated in FIG. 1A(a) to 1A(c) to FIGS. 1D(a)to 1D(c). In FIG. 9, a plurality of recess portions 11A corresponding tothe disk selecting positions are disposed in the groove cam 11 formed inthe slide gear 7. The axle 14 of the switch plate 13, which is energizedin one direction by the switch plate spring 20S, is engaged with thegroove cam 11 and at the same time the extremity portion 13A of theswitch plate 13 is brought into contact with the thrusting piece 15A ofthe switch 15 for detecting the specified position of one of the diskselecting positions.

In this way, since the axle 14 is engaged with the groove cam 11 formedin the slide gear 7 by the fact that the switch plate 13 is alwaysenergized by the switch plate spring 20S, it is possible to preventerroneous operation due to the fact that the axle 14 of the switch plate13 gets out of the correct recess portion 11A in the groove cam 11 bybacklash of the gear, in the case where vibration is applied thereto.The selection of the disk is effected by detecting the positiondetecting hole 9 of the slide gear 7 by means of the photointerrupter17.

According to the embodiment indicated in FIG. 9, since the axle 14 ofthe switch plate 13, which is energized in one direction by switch platespring 20S, is engaged with a plurality of recess portions 11A disposedin the groove cam 11, corresponding to the disk selecting positions, itis possible to prevent the slide gear 7 from being moved by backlash ofthe gear, when vibration is applied thereto, so that the positiondetecting hole 9 gets out of the detection domain of thephotointerrupter 17, which gives rise to an erroneous operation.

As described above, according to the present invention, since, theselecting operation is effected by horizontally moving the slide plateby means of the slide link so that the conveying mechanism is movedintermittently in the upward and downward direction, it is possible toeffect the position detection with a high precision.

What is claimed is:
 1. A disk selecting mechanism, comprising: a drivinggear, which rotates both in a forward direction and in a backwarddirection; a slide gear engaged with said driving gear; positiondetecting means for detecting a plurality of positions; a slide link,with which said slide gear is disposed together as one body, and inwhich said position detecting means is disposed; switching meansoperated by said position detecting means; a slide plate, on which saidposition detecting means is disposed; switching means operated by saidposition detecting means; a slide plate, on which a stepwise cam portionis formed and which is moved by said slide link; and a disk conveyingportion engaged with said stepwise cam portion and moved upward anddownward; wherein there are disposed two groups of said positiondetecting means and said switching means, the position detection beingeffected by combining said groups; and wherein one of said groupsincludes a plurality of position detecting holes and a photocouplerdetecting them, and the other of said groups includes a groove cam and aswitch operated by said cam.